Microsoft Surface Laptop 4 | Details, Review, Tech & Design Specs

QUICK LINKS:

00:56 — Color options 

01:16 — Processor options from AMD and Intel 

03:00 — Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity 

04:06 — Speakers and microphone 

04:57 — Camera performance 

05:40 — USB connectivity and ports 

06:14 — Replaceable SSD and serviceable components 

06:30 — IT management capabilities 

06:59 — Wrap Up 

 

Link References: 

Learn more at https://www.surface.com 

 

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Video Transcript:

Welcome to Microsoft Mechanics, in the next few minutes we’ll give you an insider’s look at the latest Surface Laptop, now in its 4th generation. Offered in both 13.5 and 15-inch options, Surface Laptop 4 is designed to balance premium comfort, productivity, and performance.

 

The experience starts with one finger open and fast login; then the backlit keyboard has 1.3mm key travel for comfortable typing; and is paired with a full-sized precision trackpad. The color calibrated PixelSense displays compared to typical 16×9 laptop displays, offer 18% more vertical screen real estate with their signature 3×2 aspect ratio. They also have 10-point multi-touch and a built-in digitizer for inking. Combined with powerful multi-tasking performance across your favorite apps; and cinematic audio; — everything about the Surface Laptop device experience is designed to keep you in your flow.

 

All in all, the Surface Laptop’s familiar signature sleek form factor has been retained, while adding more options for customization. Along with Platinum, Matte Black and Sandstone, we’ve now added a brand-new Ice Blue option with premium Alcantara available for the 13.5-inch model. 

 

Next, major optimizations under the covers bring the overall performance, battery life and device experience to the next level. We worked closely with both AMD and Intel to tune processor performance for Surface Laptop and Windows 10. 

 

Taking a tour of the internals, both Intel and AMD processors are now available on 13.5″ and 15″ models, whether you’re buying as a consumer or as an organization. The CPU combined with Windows platform efficiencies, along with further work to optimize efficiency across power states, also helps achieve substantially improved battery life, all without increasing the size of the battery. Models with AMD chipsets are now equipped with 7 nanometer multi-threaded Ryzen™ 5 & Ryzen™ 7 Microsoft Surface Edition processors. Ryzen 7 doubles the core count from 4 to 8 and runs at a higher clock speed. And Ryzen 5 increases the core count from 4 to 7, vs. other 4000-series Ryzen 5 processors with 6 cores. The extra core is used for GPU.

 

And each has integrated AMD Radeon™ graphics Models with Intel® chipsets now use 11th Gen Core™ i5 & Core™ i7 quad core and multi-threaded processors with integrated Iris® Xe graphics Across both processor options, this equates to more speed and multitasking power than before.

 

To complement faster CPUs, with Surface Laptop 4, you can choose from options of up to 32 gigabytes of fast 42,66MHz memory. And for storage, Surface Laptop 4 can now be configured with up to a 1 terabyte NVMe SSD. Surface Laptop 4 universally supports — 802.11ax Wi-Fi 6 — and Bluetooth® 5.0 wireless connectivity. Commercial devices include a discrete TPM 2.0 chip for enterprise-grade security. And models with AMD processors are the first to ship as certified Windows 10 Secured-core PCs. 

 

Now at the heart of the experience is the work we’ve done to improve thermal design. The active cooling system combined with smart logic ensures the Surface Laptop 4 remains whisper quiet. Our virtual temperature sensor uses advanced techniques and readings from multiple sources across the board to provide the best performance, while keeping the device within controlled touch temperature ranges. So, in normal use the fan will not need to be powered on and is quiet when it is triggered under heavy load.

 

Additionally, thermals and power profile settings are manually configurable with the performance slider in Windows, each setting has unique power and performance characteristics. For example, you can lower the setting to extend the battery on a flight or raise it before gaming. 

 

Next, the audio video experience with Surface Laptop 4 is optimized for more immersive online meetings with Microsoft Teams. New to Surface Laptop 4 is the addition of Dolby® Atmos™ to deliver rich full-range and accurate spatial sound from its stereo omnisonic speakers, which fire through the keyboard to avoid showing visible speaker ports and use the screen to reflect sound. The bass response has also been extended for when you’re listening to music or watching movies. Along the top of the display, you’ll find the dual Studio Microphone array designed for accurate voice capture, this includes auto-leveling when used with Microsoft Teams that keeps sound levels consistent if you move away from the device while talking, as well as more accurate speech-to-text transcription and better interactions for more natural conversation in multi-party meetings.

 

Here you’ll also find the HD camera array with integrated IR sensor for Windows Hello-based authentication. The camera image processing is hardware-accelerated for noise reduction, sharpness, and contrast. Its F2 aperture and 1.4-micron pixel sensor let in about 60% more light compared to common 1.1-micron pixel sensors in other HD laptop cameras, resulting in better low light capture. 

 

Then in software, starting with face detection, exposure and white balance have been tuned to allow our image processing algorithms to give more accurate skin tones and improve picture quality in real time. Along the base of Surface Laptop 4, you’ll continue to find USB-A and USB-C 3.2 Gen 2 ports and a 3.5mm headset jack on the left. The USB-C port also supports display output and charging. On the right of the device, there is a Surface Connect + port with support for fast charging or docking your Surface Laptop.

 

… In fact, when paired with the optional Surface Dock 2, it will drive two 4k displays at 60 hertz along with its internal LCD display… And for IT, Surface Laptop 4 hardware is designed to be serviceable. The SSD is removable and replaceable by skilled on-site technicians. Additionally, the display cover, and the keyboard cover can be replaced by authorized service centers. Models with AMD processors now also benefit from the same enterprise deployment and management tools as models equipped with Intel chips. Both can be personalized with required apps and policies using zero touch deployment with Windows Autopilot. This allows Surface devices to be directly shipped from the factory to users. Equally, Microsoft Endpoint Manager with Device Firmware Configuration Interface policies, also extend to Surface Laptop 4 models with AMD chips. 

 

So that was a quick tour of the new Surface Laptop 4, designed to balance premium comfort, productivity, and performance. Check out surface.com for availability and more information. And thanks for watching.